Chapter 4
Chancellor Song was in his study. As I had expected, he knew about the uproar in the rear courtyard and had anticipated that Song Jinyu would come to him.
He had even stationed several guards outside his study so he could hide from the two of us and pretend to be busy.
I cast Song Jinyu a bland glance.
“It seems you overestimated your importance in Father’s heart.”
Song Jinyu gritted her teeth, dropped heavily to her knees, and knocked her forehead firmly against the ground.
“Father, please see me!”
She kowtowed again.
“Father, please see me!”
And so it continued. She had already struck her head against the ground dozens of times.
Song Jinyu was certainly sincere about it. Blood covered her forehead, yet she continued banging it down with a solid thud. The sight made my heart ache terribly.
I had heard that the prime minister’s residence was extremely wealthy and that the courtyard was paved with the finest jade tiles. What if she cracked one? She could never afford to replace it.
When Song Jinyu reached her thirty-eighth kowtow, Chancellor Song finally emerged.
He gave a theatrical sigh, sounding deeply helpless.
“What are the two of you doing?”
I looked at the sleep still crusted in the corner of his eye. He certainly knew how to take things easy.
She had been his cherished daughter for years, yet he had managed to sleep while she battered her head outside for so long. Apparently, he did not love her all that much.
Song Jinyu, however, looked as if she had seen her savior. Without even standing, she scrambled toward him on all fours, her forehead a bloody mess.
“Father, please! Don’t drive me away!
“I swear I will never compete with the young lady for anything. I know I bear guilt, but I truly don’t want to leave the Song family. I have lived here for all fifteen years of my life. I truly cannot bear to go.
“I can give up my position as the prime minister’s daughter. I only beg you to let me stay. Please, Father!”
Song Jinyu wept as though the Song residence were holding a funeral.
The spectacle was too entertaining to miss. I had someone bring pastries and ate while I watched her perform.
Chancellor Song looked painfully torn. He turned to me for help.
“Weilan, what do you think?”
I swallowed the pastry in my mouth.
“Father, I told you already. She may stay if she first kneels and slaps herself a hundred times, then changes into a maid’s uniform and empties the chamber pots in the back courtyard.”
Chancellor Song looked at Song Jinyu kneeling on the ground. Unable to bear it, he was about to speak when I smiled in warning.
“Father, compared with how I treated her birth mother, I have already shown Song Jinyu extraordinary mercy.”
Chancellor Song fell silent.
I turned my gaze to Song Jinyu.
“Whether you stay is entirely up to you.”
Song Jinyu’s gaze was steeped in poison, hatred mingling with resentment. Even so, she agreed.
I knew she was waiting. I was waiting too, and we were waiting for the same person.
The difference was that she awaited her dear elder brother’s return so he could defend her. I awaited her dear elder brother’s return so I could put him in his place.
The servants of the residence knew how to read the wind. They could tell I despised her, and they could also tell that neither Grandmother nor Father would intervene. Song Jinyu had never been a kind mistress. Now that she had fallen so low, they took every opportunity to torment her.
When Qingzhu reported this to me, I was reclining on a chaise and eating grapes.
“She chose to stay, so naturally she must bear the consequences. However…”
My tone shifted. I regarded Qingzhu mockingly.
“Even with her reduced to this, are you still willing to remain loyal to her?”
Qingzhu’s delicate face went white with fear. She dropped to her knees.
“Qingzhu would never dare.”
“I don’t care whether you dare.”
I rose, walked to her, and patted her shoulder.
“The weather is lovely today. Gather a few guards and come out with me.”